Good Friendships

The more gay friends a woman has, the better her body image. Specifically,
for heterosexual women, having gay male friends goes hand in hand with more
positive feelings of sexual attractiveness, according to Nancy H. Bartlett, a psychologist at Mount Saint Vincent University in Canada, and her colleagues. They determined this based on a survey of 154 straight women, ages 17 to 65, half of whom had at least one close gay male friend. (Contradicting the perception that women who enjoy being with gay men must not be very desirable to other men, the study showed no link between relationship status or breakup history and the number of gay male friends.) Though the researchers can't fully explain their finding, they say it's likely that friendships with gay men allow women "to enjoy the companionship of men while avoiding the sexual overtures that can intrude on relationships with straight men."